Extortion case: CBI raids former SP MP Ateeq Ahmed's residence

New Delhi: The CBI on Wednesday raided former Samajwadi Party MP Ateeq Ahmed's premises in connection with an extortion case the agency is probing against him. The central agency conducted searches at a total of six locations in Uttar Pradesh — four in Prayagraj and two Lucknow.

CBI sleuths along with the Rapid Action Force (RAF) raided the office and residential premises of Ahmed and his son Mohammed Umar in Praygraj and also swooped down on residences of Ahmed's brother-in-law Zaki Ahmed and Farrukh, a close associate of the former parliamentarian.

While Ahmed, his son, Zaki, and Farrukh are all named accused in the CBI FIR, the probe agency also raided residences of a Lucknow-based Chartered Accountant Nitesh Kumar and Pawan Kumar Singh, one of Ahmed's employee.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had last month registered a case against Ahmed on charges of extortion, cheating, and forgery.

According to the probe agency, Ahmed's associates had allegedly abducted Mohit Jaiswal, a real estate developer, brought him to Deoria Jail, where Ahmed was lodged at the time, and forcefully made him transfer four of his firms in the names of Zaki Ahmed and Farrukh. According to the FIR, Ahmed and more than 10 of his associates brutally beat Jaiswal, dislocating his right ring finger. Jaiswal had several other internal and external injuries from the incident.

The case was entrusted to the CBI after the UP government had approached the Supreme Court of India, saying that CCTV cameras at the jail complex were tampered with at the time of the incident.

A few weeks ago, CBI officials had visited Deoria Jail in Uttar Pradesh to speak to jail officials about the case against the former SP MP.

Sources in the know had earlier said that the CBI team as part of its investigation into the case, had visited the UP jail in order to speak to jail officials as part of their basic enquiry as to how Jaiswal was brought in the jail and extorted without any interference from them. Further, they said that relevant documents have been collected from the UP Police and are being scrutinised.

The CBI had recently filed a chargesheet in the case against one of Ahmed's associates Jafar Ullah, who is currently under judicial custody in Lucknow Jail.

However, the agency has not yet questioned Ahmed, who was moved from Deoria to a Gujarat jail after the incident came to light.